Small serving bowl in highly figured natural edge Queensland Kauri by Bob Gilmour. The wood for this piece was saved from a furniture maker's discards.

Completed: April 2009

Availability / Cost: Sold - AUD $130

Dimensions:
cm

Materials:

Finish: epoxy | hand-rubbed oil

Here in the northern tropics of Australia, summer storms ensure that tree-falls are plentiful ... so, there is an abundance of available rainforest timbers from both private property and forestry land. Much of the fallen timber is processed as 'slabs' by mobile sawmillers and sold to a variety of end-users.

Because the wood is so abundant, many users are quite wasteful in what they throw away ... and often, the bits thrown away are the most spectacular.

Such was the case with the piece of Queensland Kauri I used to make this dish. It was part of a lot of discarded timber I obtained from a local 'slab' furniture maker. It was cracked and damaged ... but, what colour and character this piece of wood exuded. The tree had been quite old, so the wood is a rich deep yellow colour. Also, the log must have been on the ground a while because there is a reasonable amount of freshwater spalting and some insect damage ... all adding to the prize.

I created a shape quite quickly that I was very happy with and decided to leave some natural edge ... to highlight the stressed condition of the wood.

I didn't really have a lot of time available and was eager to finish this piece, so I opted to create it as a functional item rather than a display piece.

This is one item which I would probably like to keep for myself ... but it sold quickly.